


Please do not adjust your set

by TomKat



Series: Be careful making wishes in the dark [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball, Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate character background, Drabble, Gen, Kagami is not from LA he is from Night Vale, and so are Himuro and Alex too, general oddness, tail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-12
Updated: 2013-08-12
Packaged: 2017-12-23 03:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/921516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomKat/pseuds/TomKat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not that he doesn't like Tokyo or Japan. By when you from a lonely desert city with a police state and general oddness it's very hard to ... adjust.</p><p>A.K.A. The one where Kagami has culture shock and a tail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Please do not adjust your set

"Is it strange?" Asks one girl when he's in middle school. "I mean, you've spent most of your life in America- how are you adjusting to Tokyo?"  
"It is a little strange," Taiga admits, leaning back on his chair. "I used to live in a small town in the middle of the desert- a proper city takes a lot of getting used to." He smiles somewhat sheepishly and the girl gins encouragingly back.  
"Don't worry, Kagami-kun. You'll get used to the size in no time!" She says cheerfully, and rejoins her friends.  
Taiga doesn't say that the size is the least of his worries, but his tail twitches slightly at her dismissal of his culture shock.

 

It's not that he misses, exactly, that shooting practice used to be more dangerous than simple basketball drills, or that every day at school was a testament to natural selection. It's not even that the "facts" he was taught at home are just laughed at here, and he's thought of as really stupid rather than average. Most people can't even read his writing- but how could he learn when the Sheriffs secret police banned writing utensils? School is odd, but it's still familiar, and there are better odds for his survival to graduate now.

His fear of libraries is not helping his education though, and everyone dismissing it as irrational is not helping his psyche.

 

No, what's hard is that Taiga feels like he has to be a completely different person. He's already considered abnormal because of his height and hair colour, he couldn't imagine how the people would react if they saw his tail. It's a far cry from home, where he could have it out at all times and no-one would even remark on it, because everyone else was a little odd too.  
He misses using it in basketball games- he can't reach as far now, and mis-times his jumps and landings because the momentum and angles are now lacking. The rules are a little different too, and the lowest scoring player isn't made to chop a finger off. He's not sure if that's a good thing, or Japan just sucking at motivation.

But it's not all bad, in Japan. He can still get Cecil on his radio, he has portable bloodstones to chant around for good luck and curse his enemies and cleanse groceries with, he's got pictures of Alex and Himuro and him all together, and the city council still somehow manage to send him notifications with law updates and memos and festivals, and old woman Josie still sends him home baked cookies that are still warm when they arrive, and wolf skin jumpers. He gets messages from them a few times a month, in his eggs and socks and stuff. 

 

He falls asleep listening to the familiar, comforting voice of Night Vale- his home, his sanctuary- his tail gently swaying as he snores, as he dreams of basketball and someone as lost and as in hiding as he is, waiting for him in Japan.

He can bear to stay for a little while longer.


End file.
